Venus, Jupiter, Mercury

 Mercury reached its furthest elongation from the Sun yesterday.  Even so, it is a difficult planet to catch from this location between two mountain ridges.  There is only a short time between when it becomes dark enough to see Mercury and when it slips behind the mountain.  Last night this was at 9 pm.

 

Venus (top), Jupiter (middle), and Mercury (bottom)

These are two views, enlarged 2x, of Mercury dipping into the treeline:

 Near midnight on the same evening the sky brightness was measured at sqml=21.68 mpsas, a very good value.  The Milky Way was well positioned for photographs.

Sony A7iii + Laowa 15mm f/2

 A 3x3 median filter was applied to this image in post processing to suppress the faint stars and let the Milky Way stand out.

 

 

Milky Way roundup

 The new moon is today, 15 June.  There are only a couple days left before the waxing moon begins to wash out views of the Milky Way.  Here is a roundup of some images taken during the dark skies of the past week.

 

7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye.  3x3 median filter

Laowa 7.5mm f/2.  Sparkle-6 filter

Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7. Sparkle-6 filter

Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4, 3x3 median filter

Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4, Softon filter

Sony A7iii + Rokinon 135mm f/2 Nikon AE

Sony A7iii + Rokinon 135mm AE

Sony A7iii + Rokinon 135mm AE, 3x3 median filter

E-M5iii + Rokinon 135mm f/2

This last image shows the star Antares (on the left), and the two globular clusters NGC 6144 (middle) and M4 (right).

Some nearby stars

 The second, third, and fourth nearest star systems are currently visible (with optical aid) in the late evening after twilight.  They are: Barnard's Star (second), Wolf 359 (third), and Lalande 21185 (fourth).  The following table shows the particulars: 

Some nearby stars in the evening sky

Rank	Name	distance (ly)	magnitude
2	Barnard's Star	5.96	9.5
3	Wolf 359	7.86	13.4
4	Lalande 21185	8.30	7.5
11	Ross 128	11.01	11.1
30	Wolf 1061	13.43	10.1

A couple of other nearby stars are included in this table because they are currently positioned for viewing as well.  These five stars are all red dwarfs, and all of them are too faint to be seen with the unaided eye.  In case you are wondering, the fifth-nearest star system is Sirius, which is also the brightest star in the night sky, and currently not visible in the evening.

 Three of these stars are located in the western sky: 

Ross 128 (left), Wolf 359 (middle), Lalande 21185 (right)

The other two are located in the east, preceding the rising Milky Way:

Barnard's Star (left), Wolf 1061 (right)

 The two images above were obtained with an Olympus E-M1iii camera and Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7 lens with a Hoya Sparkle filter.

The next set of images of the individual stars were obtained with an Olympus E-M5iii camera and a Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens.

Barnard's Star (circled). Second closest star system.

Wolf 359 (circled). Third closest star system.

Lalande 21185 (circled). Fourth closest star system.

Ross 128 (circled). 11th.

Wolf 1061 (circled). 30th.

The globular star cluster M107 appears down and to the left of Wolf 1061.

Post conjunction

 Venus and Jupiter are slowly separating.  Last night they were 2.76° apart and Venus is now above Jupiter as they set.  

Venus (top) and Jupiter (below)

 

Three of Jupiter's moons are visible: Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.

Europa (second from left) is actually the combined image of Europa and Io, which were very close together.  These images were all obtained with the Olympus 40-150mm f/4 lens.

 

 As twilight fades the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri is still visible low (very low) in the south.

 

  

 These two images were obtained with a Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens on an Olympus E-M5iii camera.

 

Omega Centauri is estimated to contain 10 million stars and has a diameter of about 170 ly. 

 

Monday conjunction

 Jupiter and Venus were separated by only 1.7° on Monday evening (08 June).  

Olympus E-M1iii + 40-150mm f/4 lens. 

 

Three of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter (lower left) are visible.  From left to right: Europa, Callisto, Ganymede.

Nearest Neighbors

 No, not the folks across the street.  

Two of the three nearest star systems are currently visible (with optical aid) on opposite sides of the sky.  Barnard's Star, 6 ly distant, is the second closest star system.  It shines at magnitude 9.5 in the constellation Ophiuchus, which is rising in the east in the late evening.  Wolf 359, at a distance of 7.8 ly, is the third closest star system.  It shines at magnitude 13.5 in the constellation Leo, which is setting in the west in the late evening.

Both of these nearby stars are red dwarfs.  Neither are visible to the naked eye.  Barnard's Star can be picked up with binoculars or a small telescope.  It can be visible in photographs with wide-angle lenses.  Wolf 359 is 251 times fainter and requires a large telescope or a telephoto lens under dark skies to become visible. 

The location of Barnard's Star is circled.  Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4

 

Barnard's Star is circled.  1:1 crop, Leica 12mm

Barnard's Star is even visible in an image taken with a super-wide fisheye lens (7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8):

1:1 crop, 7.5mm fisheye

This is an image obtained last year (14 June 2025) with an Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens on an Olympus E-M1iii camera:

Barnard's Star.  Olympus 75mm f/1.8

 Wolf 359 is located in the constellation Leo:

Location of Wolf 359 is marked with a circle.  OM 20mm f/1.4

 Wolf 359 becomes visible in an image taken with a 135mm f/2 lens on a Sony A7iii camera:

Wolf 359 and a satellite trail

 Last year (15 June 2025) I was able to capture Wolf 359 with a Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 MF lens on an Olympus E-M1iii camera:

Wolf 359 (circled).  85mm f/1.4

 

More color

 Friday night:

Jupiter and Venus setting behind the Bristolhead ridgeline. OM 40-150mm f/4

There were passing clouds that disrupted my photographics plans, so these two shots of Scorpius and the rising Milky Way were obtained instead.  These were taken with a Sony A7iii and a Rokinon AF 85mm f/1.4 FE II lens.  They were digitally filtered in post processing with a 3x3 median filter to suppress the faint stars and emphasize the blended color patterns of the Milky Way and earthly airglow.